Police Target Underage Drinking At The Jersey Shore With ‘Cops In Shops’ Program

BELMAR, N.J. (AP) — Law enforcement will again seek to prevent underage drinking at the Jersey shore this summer.

Acting Attorney General John Hoffman on Friday was in Belmar to announce a series of initiatives.

Thirty-five police departments will participate in the Cops in Shops program. Undercover police officers will station themselves inside liquor stores to apprehend customers using fake IDs. Cops will also be outside to arrest adults who purchase alcohol for minors.

Officials say 211 people were arrested through the program last summer.

Highway traffic safety officials say alcohol was a factor in about 650 teen driver crashes during the summer in Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean and Monmouth counties in the last decade.